CEDAR FALLS - Dominique Kremer knows that the older people get, the greater chance they have of facing physical and mental problems.

So the Hudson Middle School sixth-grader came up with a fun way to combat them. Kremer created the game Sense and Sensibility for the Invent Iowa Invention Convention Thursday.

It was one of 90 inventions created by 130 students from 13 schools in grades three through eight that judges evaluated during the event at Area Education Agency 267.

"I work at a retirement home.Every Friday I volunteer," Kremer said. She noted elderly people can suffer from Alzheimer's disease, arthritis or depression. Sometimes they experience a loss of balance and can have a harder time seeing or hearing.

She found ideas for the activities to address these problems through Internet research and everyday tasks. Players pair up and move pieces around a game board, picking up a card each turn with a set of directions.

Kremer said creating teams involves more people, which can help combat depression. She noted depression can be the result of isolation or not communicating with others and sometimes occurs when a friend or family member dies. One of the cards, for example, tells the player to use a can of Play-Doh to make a pair of glasses in 30 seconds with their eyes closed.

"If the partner guesses what they are, they move ahead three spaces," said Kremer.

Players also can land on spaces and get sight or touch cards. With the sight cards they look through a game piece, which also doubles as a miniature kaleidoscope, to read the words on the card. Touch cards trace the letters of words using raised dots, which the player attempts to decipher with closed eyes.

Though the game has an educational benefit for young as well as elderly people, many of the cards focus on activities that can be especially hard for senior citizens.

"Some of the cards are just exercises," said Kremer. One, for example, asks the player to raise a leg in the air and hold it, which helps an elderly person improve their sense of balance.

Pairs of judges visited with each of the inventors to evaluate their creations.

"There's a criteria established by the Belin-Blank Center (at Iowa State University)," said AEA 267's Linda Martin, who coordinates the event. "They have to have a good invention, they have to have a display and they have to have a journal."

Judges score the students based on those criteria and their presentation. The 22 inventions earning the highest score will go on to the statewide Invention Convention April 25 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.

Other inventions included:

The Sports Pal, created by Fairbank Elementary School third-graders Matthew Richards and Ben Weepie. They asked Richards' dad to weld together some closet racks, creating a small basket with one side rising up about three feet.

A circular wire football holder is welded near the top of the rack. Baseball bats and gloves can also be hung on the rack. Other balls can be placed in the basket. The boys said it better organizes their sports equipment and keeps it from being backed over by a vehicle.

"I'm tired of my dad running over my balls," said Weepie.

Breakfast to Go, created by Orchard Hill Elementary School sixth-grader Faith Ford. Her invention consists of three plastic containers with screw-on lids Velcroed together in pyramid formation. A fabric bag that can be packed with ice is Velcroed underneath the bottom two containers. The two bottom containers, which have faucet spigots connected to the lids, can be filled with juice or milk while the top one can be filled with cereal.

"You can take it when you go on vacations," said Ford. "It's for people who are hurrying and don't have time to eat breakfast.

The Picture Rotator, created by Hudson Middle School sixth-grader Dylan Hassman. He purchased a picture frame and built a wooden frame to connect to the back. He drilled holes at the top and bottom of the wooden frame and inserted two dowels that can be turned. A series of four pictures of Hassman participating in different sports are rolled onto the dowels, allowing him to change the display.

"We printed the pictures off of the computer and put the contact paper on the back," he said. Hassman also nailed a picture hanger to the wooden frame.

He's willing to make additional Picture Rotators for friends who want their own, provided they pay the right price. And what will Hassman do with his original?

"I'm going to hang it in my room," he said.

Contact Andrew Wind at (319) 291-1507 or andrew.wind@wcfcourier.com.